Bus catches fire on I-95, kids’ track team stranded

A group of young track stars had a terrifying experience after their bus caught fire on Interstate 95 in Brevard County.

"It was chaos.  Everyone was crying and asking for their mom and dads," said Eddie Roberts, 14-year-old track member.

The team of kids, ages 9 through 18, were headed from Fort Lauderdale to Virginia for the track meet at the Junior Olympics.

All 37 kids, plus their coaches and parents, made it off the bus safely.

"I was sleeping and everyone was like ‘get up there's a fire,’" Roberts said.

The fire started in the back of the bus around 2:30 a.m. Friday, as the bus was passing through Brevard County.

The group praised a passing truck driver, who told the kids’ driver to pull over, because the bus was on fire.  Everyone scrambled to get off.

The bus driver said he did not know why the bus caught fire.

Some of the kids’ track suits and equipment were badly burnt, including shoes, books, jackets and blankets.

“A small flame turned into a large, charred bus,” said Eric Saunders, whose daughter is on the track team. “I thought all the kids’ stuff was going to be burned up. We are going to have nothing to go on, nothing to go to Virginia with.”

The team is now concerned about getting to the track meet, which the kids have been practicing for since February.

"We are just going to work through it.  We don't want to tell them no, you can't go, after they worked so hard for six months," said Caprita Scott, parent.

Parents and coaches said the bus alone cost them $7,500, and they have been saving and fundraising for months to raise the $20,000 needed for the event.

Though they are disappointed, they said they were just glad no one was hurt.

"I thought I wasn't going to make it home to my dad," Rickia Anderson, track team member.

Members of a nearby Titusville church arrived to help the team, and the kids were taken to breakfast at a restaurant.

"They looked like refugees under the bridge.  No one was stopping to help," said Pastor Glenn Dames, St. James A.M.E. Church.

Several community groups, including the St. James A.M.E. Church out of Titusville, are now working to help this team.

"They woke up from a dead sleep to evacuating the bus, so it's traumatic for them, so they’re expressing that in a mere of different emotions, Pastor Dames said.

North Brevard Charities, a funeral home, and several churches have stepped in to help the team.
    
The pastor is working on trying to get them transportation to Virginia, but he says a lot of the children are scared of getting on another bus.

If you want to help, you can call the St. James A.M.E. Church in Titusville at (321) 269-3645.